National attention dwindles as school continues not to publish honor roll

Steven Ryan

Wednesday

Dec 26, 2007 at 12:01 AMDec 26, 2007 at 7:00 PM

It was a big deal for Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno, but school officials insist last year’s decision to discontinue publishing the honor roll in the newspaper wasn’t a big deal at all — just a small part of the school’s efforts to reduce stress.

It was a big deal for Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno, but school officials insist last year’s decision to discontinue publishing the honor roll in the newspaper wasn’t a big deal at all — just a small part of the school’s efforts to reduce stress.

“It’s become something not a lot of people talk about,” said Principal Paul Richards. “I knew this wouldn’t have a huge impact. It’s just a philosophical stance, having a conversation about stress.”

But the national attention from last year’s decision still has a pulse. Richards has been recently quoted in many prominent publications’ articles, including the New York Times, and blogs across the country, on the topic of stress. Current, a national magazine covering youth topics, recently asked Richards to contribute a point/counterpoint article on the topic. Also, some schools from California, who are hoping to adopt a similar policy, have reached out to Needham High School administration to share its experience.

In October, Needham High School decided to uphold the high school’s new policy of not publishing the honor roll and continue sending a letter of acknowledgment instead, Richards said.

“I think more was made of it than should’ve been made of it at the time,” Gratz said. “We can overdo academic pressure. One-tenth of a point in someone’s grade point average can determine if someone is not on the honor roll. That gets silly.”

Rachel Miller, who has two teens at the high school and heads the Parent-Teacher Council, said she hasn’t heard the honor roll decision discussed much among parents anymore, noting her kids, who usually get good grades, never seemed to put too much stock in making the honor roll.

“In all honesty, the honor roll in the paper has completely blown over,” Miller said. “I don’t think [the honor roll] is a significant influence on what [my children] do.”

Dawn Dow, a Needham High mother, also said parents don’t talk about the honor roll decision much anymore.

“I still have mixed feelings personally,” said Dow, noting she feels it would be “nice” to acknowledge kids in some special way, other than a letter home, such as free admission to athletic events.

“But I think Paul Richards has made a concerted effort to reduce stress at the high school,” Dow said. “The kids are under a lot of pressure.”

As for stress-reduction efforts, a greater emphasis has been placed on reducing the amount of homework at the high school, with Gratz noting the emphasis is now on “more meaningful work,” rather than just “busy work.”

The high school’s homework policies include not assigning homework on long weekends and during vacations — something several students said is a great improvement.

“They used to give us projects over the weekend,” said John Walsh, a senior at the high school. “Now, it’s just easier. Over vacation, we get to enjoy it as a vacation rather than do a lot of schoolwork.”

Some students, however, feel teachers find ways around those policies.

“Sometimes teachers pile [the homework] on before [the vacation] or do it the next day afterward,” said Josh Aliber, a freshman. “I don’t know if the program to reduce stress is completely working, but it’s a foundation.”

As a parent, Miller feels the homework effort hasn’t fully taken hold yet.

“The kids feel they still get homework — just delayed,” Miller said. “I think it’s a cultural change that takes time to implement. Kids want to do well; teachers still have a certain amount of material to teach.”

But Dow feels she would rather have teachers frontload or backload homework rather than assign it during long weekends and vacations.

“They desperately need that down time,” Dow said, noting kids have so many extracurricular activities along with their classes. “For me, I’d rather see that and give them an actual vacation.”

Standing in front of the main entrance of the high school, Aliber and his friends also noted the yoga requirement for their senior year — another initiative by school administration to teach students methods for reducing stress.

“They’ll teach you to sit on your head,” joked Alex Sternberg, a freshman.

Richards plans to have a stress-reduction workshop at the high school next month. He also held a professional development day on stress for students and teachers on Nov. 26.

Also next month, the high school plans to have a Web site set up for students and parents to provide resources on dealing with stress. Richards said he’s planning more activities in February and March on stress reduction.

“It’s challenging,” Richards said. “We’re working on ways on figuring how to make a positive impact.”

As for the honor roll, students at the high school were more willing to talk about the no-homework weekends than answer questions about the honor roll, greeting most honor roll questions with a shrug and a “whatever.”

Gratz noted his daughter at the high school does the same whenever she makes the honor roll.

He said: “When I pointed it out, she shrugged her shoulders and asked what’s for dinner.”

Steven Ryan can be reached at sryan@cnc.com.

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